Tatis grand slam pushes Expos past Braves

ATLANTA-- Bartolo Colon won in his first start since coming over from Cleveland, and Fernando Tatis hit a go-ahead grand slam as the Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves 5-2 Tuesday night.

Michael Barrett also homered for second-place Montreal, which pulled within 8 1/2 games of the Braves in the NL East. Atlanta lost for just the second time in 13 games.

The Indians sent Colon, pitcher Tim Drew and cash to the Expos last week for first baseman Lee Stevens and three minor leaguers. In 16 starts with Cleveland, Colon was 10-4 with a 2.55 ERA and won his last three starts.

He didn't miss a beat in his first appearance ever against Atlanta. Colon gave up two runs in the first -- one earned -- and then held the Braves scoreless over his final six innings to pick up his first NL victory. He allowed just five hits and struck out six.

Mets 12, Phillies 6

PHILADELPHIA -- Jeromy Burnitz had two hits and three RBIs, and Mo Vaughn added two hits and two RBIs to lead the New York Mets to a victory over Philadelphia.

Pedro Astacio (8-3) allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings to win for just the second time since May 14. He is only 2-1 in his last eight starts despite giving up three earned runs or fewer in six of those outings.

Scott Rolen had a two-run double and two-run homer for the Phillies, who had won six of eight.

New York scored three times off starter Terry Adams (4-6) in the first and added two more in the second.

Astros 6, Reds 5

CINCINNATI -- Lance Berkman homered on his first two swings, driving in five runs, and Gregg Zaun hit a 10th-inning sacrifice fly that gave Houston a win over Cincinnati.

Berkman's two homers put the Astros up 5-1 in the third, but Austin Kearns had a career-high four hits and Adam Dunn hit a solo homer as the Reds tied it at 5 in the sixth inning.

Craig Biggio led off the 10th with a double off Danny Graves (3-2) and Berkman was intentionally walked. After Richard Hidalgo drew a one-out walk that loaded the bases, Zaun hit a sacrifice fly to left field. Brewers 12, Pirates 6

PITTSBURGH -- Ruben Quevedo limited Pittsburgh to three runs over 6 2/3 innings and drove in three runs with a pair of hits as Milwaukee batted around twice to beat Pittsburgh.

Quevedo (4-6) came into the game hitting .038 this season and had only two career RBIs in three seasons before contributing a two-run single to a five-run Brewers first and another RBI single in the fifth.

Ryan Thompson also drove in three runs with a run-scoring single in the first and a two-run triple in another five-run inning in the eighth. The Brewers sent 10 batters to the plate in each of their big innings.

Marlins 9, Cubs 7

MIAMI -- Cliff Floyd had three hits, including a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning, and Florida defeated Chicago.

Sammy Sosa hit his 28th homer of the season for the Cubs, who have lost seven of eight.

Floyd had a pair of singles to go along with his solo shot that broke a 5-all tie. He finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

Tom Gordon made his first appearance for the Cubs since Sept. 5., striking out two in a scoreless eighth. His second strikeout was the 1,500th of his career.

Jon Lieber (6-5) pitched five innings, giving up six runs and 10 hits. It was Lieber's first loss since May 29.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Red Sex 6-2, Blue Jays 4-1

BOSTON -- Spot starters Tim Wakefield and Sunny Kim gave Boston a boost on both ends of a doubleheader, as the Red Sox swept Toronto on Tuesday to extend their winning streak over the Blue Jays to eight consecutive games.

Kim (2-0) pitched six scoreless innings but ran into trouble in the seventh before the Red Sox held on for a 6-4 victory in the nightcap. Wakefield also pitched six shutout innings, and Lou Merloni hit a two-run triple in the seventh as Boston came from behind for a 2-1 victory in the day game.

Brian Daubauch had three hits, two runs and two RBIs in the night game as the Red Sox improved to 27-8 against the AL East. Alan Embree saved both games.

Willie Banks (2-0) earned the win in the opener despite allowing Jose Cruz's go-ahead double in the seventh.

Scott Eyre (2-4) lost the opener and Mike Smith (0-3), called up from Triple-A between games, dropped the nightcap.

Yankees 10, Indians 5

NEW YORK -- Raul Mondesi hit an RBI single and scored twice in his Yankees debut, and New York overcame a record-setting homer by Jim Thome to beat Cleveland.

Thome became the first Indians player to homer in six straight games, launching a long drive off Roger Clemens. But that rocket off the Rocket wasn't nearly enough.

Jorge Posada's fourth career grand slam capped a seven-run seventh. Derek Jeter's tiebreaking single earlier in the inning helped the Yankees improve to 10-0 against AL Central teams.

Ramiro Mendoza (6-2) got the win in relief of a heat-depleted Clemens. Ricardo Rincon (0-3) took the loss.

White Sox 17, Tigers 9

CHICAGO -- Magglio Ordonez and Sandy Alomar each homered twice as Chicago and Detroit combined for a major league-record tying 12 home runs.

Both teams hit six home runs in the game as they tied the record they set together on May 28, 1995.

Kenny Lofton and Jose Valentin also homered for the White Sox, who have scored 77 runs in winning seven of nine games against the Tigers this season.

Dmitri Young homered twice for Detroit. Robert Fick, George Lombard, Wendell Magee and Damion Easley also homered.

Todd Ritchie (5-5) allowed five runs and seven hits in seven innings to win for the first time in June 11. Adam Bernero (2-4) took the loss.

Rangers 3, Devil Rays 1

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Rafael Palmeiro hit his 465th homer, tying him with Dave Winfield for 22nd place all-time, and Kenny Rogers (9-4) allowed three hits over seven innings as Texas defeated Tampa Bay.

Juan Gonzalez homered for Texas, which snapped a four-game losing streak. The Rangers are 36-45 halfway through the 2002 schedule. Hideki Irabu pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save.

Tanyon Sturtze (1-9) took the loss.

Noteworthy

nAndruw Jones and Johnny Damon won an Internet runoff for the final spots in next week's All-Star Game.

More than 750,000 voters cast about 3.1 million ballots at mlb.com between Sunday night and Tuesday. AL manager Joe Torre and NL mananger Bob Brenly picked five players to compete for the final spot.

Jones, the Atlanta Braves' center fielder, beat out Pittsburgh's Brian Giles by more than 70,000 votes. Colorado's Larry Walker was third ahead of St. Louis' Albert Pujols (267,196), followed by San Diego's Ryan Klesko.

Damon center fielder for the Boston Red Sox beat out Cleveland's Jim Thome by more than 26,000 votes. Oakland's Eric Chavez was third, followed by Chicago's Magglio Ordonez and Anaheim's Darin Erstad.

nAbout two dozen fans were treated for effects of the near-record heat on Tuesday during Boston's 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park.

Temperatures in the city reached the mid-90s and climbed to 104 degrees on the field.

About 10 people collapsed, but no one was hospitalized.

nMets: Right-hander Steve Trachsel was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, because of a strained muscle in his neck and shoulder.

The Mets were the last team not to have any of their starters miss a turn this season. This is Trachsel's first trip to the DL since 1994, when he was with the Cubs.

nRed Sox: Carlos Baerga was placed on the disabled list Tuesday with a strained left hamstring. Baerga injured himself while running out a groundout in Monday night's game against the Blue Jays.